I was a Reagan guy, A Bush Elder guy. I thought Clinton did a good job. I think given the hand he was dealt Obama has done a very good job.

When Bush the younger took office we were not at war. We had three consecutive years of budget surpluses and were on our way to paying down our national debt. Eight years later…

  • Two unfunded wars
  • Tax cuts that went mostly to the wealthy and instead of surplusses created massive federal deficits
  • An unfunded medicare prescription drug program
  • The lowest number of jobs created since the 1930′s
  • A financial meltdown that required a 1 trillion dollar bailout to keep us out of another great depression
  • A diminished manufacturing base outsourced overseas
  • A huge escalation of Federal Government

Given all of this,  46% of Americans voted still for the Republican. He still carried 22 states. It will be even closer this time.

Be scared, very scared.

The Republicans have filibustered the “Buffet Rule” which was a bill that would have made people making over a million dollars a year pay at least an effective tax rate that middle class Americans have to pay.

The Republicans also filibustered a bill that would end billions in subsidies that are given to the oil companies. Oil companies make billions in profits, have for a long time and do not need subsidies and have even gone on the record and stated that they do not need these subsidies.

I shake my head most every day and do not understand how anyone in the middle class could vote for this party. 

For those of you that do not know what a filibuster is. A filibuster is when a single member of the senate can stop a vote from being held.

For the record over 70% of Americans are for the wealthy paying as much as middle class Americans in taxes, and for ending subsidies for the oil companies.

The notion than Mitt Romney will be able to move back to the center as he enters the general election is just not a reality.

The Republican Tea Party base is not going to go out of their way and vote for Romney if he moves to the center. I would like to believe that there are enough Tea Partiers out there that would not get behind someone that shifts his position to ones they do not embrace.

The Republicans pushing out their nomination process is being done on purpose.
Why?

Simple. The longer it goes on the longer it keep them in their bubble. The longer it keeps them from having to address head on these key facts that are supported by overwhelming evidence.
1) It was the policies of the last Republican Administration that created this economic mess to begin with.
2) Since the stimulus was passed we have seen private sector job growth in every single month. Job growth has been slow as Republicans have filibustered every bill that has been brought to the floor regarding job growth. The Republican led House which was elected on the platform of “jobs jobs jobs” has in the past two years brought ZERO jobs bills to the floor.
3) The Republicans have brought for no ideas or plans for fixing the economy. All they have is rhetoric. This is true for those running for president, those in the Senate, and those in the House which they now control. Legislation begins in the House of Representatives. For the past two years Republicans have controlled this body of Congress. In two years they have introduced ZERO legislation that addresses Jobs. ZERO! In that time the Executive Branch (The President) put together a jobs bill that was filibustered by Republicans in the Democratic led Senate. Not even allowed to come to the floor for a vote. The bill was broken up into pieces and reintroduced and these too were filibustered. Why is that? Even if we are being reasonable in this point of discourse. It is understandable that Republicans do not like the Democrats ideas on jobs. Okay, I can understand this. But, where are your ideas if you do not like those proposed by the Democrats?
4) Tax breaks and lowering taxes for the wealthy create jobs.
Tax cuts during the Bush administration largely favored the wealthy. The captial tax gain rate was lowered from 28% to 15% where it still remains today. In the first 7 years of the Bush administration (I am only including the years before the economic meltdown to be fair) job growth was the LOWEST it has been in that past 40 years! Today the same tax rates exist. Where are the jobs?
5) There is too much regulation and this is adding to our economic problems.
I will concede that we have stupid regulations that need to be removed. However, our current economic problems are in part (a large part) the result of the repeal of Glass-Steagle. This was the regulation that was created as a result of the actions that led to the Great Depression. This regulation was repealed during the Clinton administration in a bi-partisan manner. Hmmmm, we repealed the legislation that was created to prevent another great depression, and less than 8 years later we end up in the Great Recession, that likely would have been another great depression were it not for the wall street bailout.
6) When Republicans are in the majority they out deficit spend the Democrats by a large margin. When a Republican president is in the White House they out deficit spend the Democrats by a large margin.
 1977 though 2007 Average Deficit Spending with a…
  ?Democratic President in Office: 44.4 billion dollars average per year
  ?Republican President in Office: 310.6 billion dollars average per year
  ?Democratic Controlled House/Senate: 167.6 billion dollars per year
  ?Republican Controlled House/Senate: 297.3 billion dollars per year
  ?Neutral* Controlled House/Senate: 203.7 billion dollars per year
* One branch controlled by Democrats, the Other by Republicans
For more details click here
7) Want less Government intrusion in our personal affairs, and our for following the constitution.
Oh, really…
a) Florida, passes legislation to require mandatory urinalysis on welfare/foodstamp recipients and make them pay for the test, because after all we do not want these low income people spending the money on drugs. Average rate of failing a drug test by the general populace? 8%. Percentage of Florida welfare recipients failing the test, less than 2%. Do they stop the test based upon this data. No! They continue to charge poorp people.
b) Passing legislation that does not allow unions to collectively bargain for wages and job safety issues. In Wisconsin this legislation was passed and now their Governor and elected officials are now being recalled. In Ohio this legislation was passed and it was subsequently recalled by in a grass roots effort that placed it on the ballot and passed it by an overwhelming majority.
c) Michigan State government passes a law that allows them to install at will city managers into towns, cities, and municiplaties they feel are insolvent (the criteria for this is very sketchy). For the past 2 years a city manager, appointed by the state government has been running the city of Benton Harbor.
d) Suppression of voting in order to prevent voting fraud.
First, voter fraud is .000004%. Huge problem we need to address!
13 Republican led states have already passed voter suppression laws. Voter suppression laws are currently pending in 6 more Republican led states. These laws make it more diffuclt for college students, the elderly, Blacks, Hispanics, and the poor to vote. These are voting groups that tend to vote for democrats. By the way, voting is not a privilige, it is guaranteed in our Constitution. Voter fraud is not a problem! Ironically the last case of voter fraud where there was prosecution and conviction was Indiana’s Republican Secretary of State Charlie White.
e) Virgina passes a law requiring an ultrasound before an abortion. The original bill required and invasive vaginal procedure. The point here is not whether or not you are for or against abortion or this procedure. Frankly, being pro life I am in favor of non-invasive ultrasound as it might cause the mother to reconsider her decision. The point is about government in our personal business. If you are for less government intervention in our personal lives how in the world can you be for something like this?  

The Republicans turning to social issues is being done on purpose.
Why?
Because as it stands now there base consists of three groups.
1) Upper Income Americans (Incomes levels $100,000 a year and higher.) [Full disclosure: I am in this economic group]
2) Racists and other right wing extremists
3) Fundamentalist Christians
The first group in general does not care about social issues. They care about keeping the largest percentage of their income and wealth as possible. The Republicans need to run on social issues in order to keep their base at around 45%. The fundmentalist Christian group represents a large block of the Republican party. This block wants a Federal and State government that legislates and mandates it morality on the rest of us. I am a Christian and this block does not represent many of us who are Christians. Ironalically, this morality touting group has the same demographics as other groups when it comes to divorce, marital infidelity, etc… . This is in my opinion the biggest group of hypocrites out there. First, wanting to impose their moral will on others is not biblical (See Mathew 7:5). Second, political activism is also not biblical (see Mark 12:17). Third, care for the poor was one of key points in Christs message to man (see Mathew 25:40, to name but one scriptural reference). There are many CINO’s out there (Christians in name only).  Look at there actions and not their rhetoric. See how well they line up with what the Bible really says.

The Republicans branding the mainstream media as elite and biased is being done on purpose.
Why?
Simple. If you are constantly complaining to an organization whose mission it is to be fair and balanced that you are not being treated fairly then you will come to the point when you will be getting favorably biased treatement which is exactly what the Republicans get from the media.

As long as the primary process lingers the Republicans can continue to live in their bubble with their radical base. They do not need to confront the issues and the facts that will be what is decided by the 10-20% of us that decide the election.

The less time they have to confront the truth the better. This election is going to be more about the billionaires throwing around large sums of money on negative ads. This and as little time in the spotlight as possible is to the advantage of a party that stands for so little other than bashing the other side for not fixing the problems they created quick enough!

I am an independent moderate that has voted for both Republicans and Democrats for office.

I am pro life, but understand that there are situations that warrant abortion.

I am for a balanced budget and fiscal responsibility in America.

I am for Social Security. It is not an entitlement program. In general the vast majority that receive social security get back what they have paid in. Social Security is a seperate tax we all pay. If our elected officials would not have spent the 1 trillion in social secruity surplusses before the economic meltdown (a meltdown that put social security revenues upside down) we would not have a problem right now, nor would we have a problem as all the baby boomers retire.

I am for medicare and medicaid, but realize the taxes we collect for medicare are insufficient. Healthcare is still a problem we need to address.

The Democrats have become a moderate party. The Republicans have become a party of extremists. Knowing that all it would take is a downturn in the economy to put these crazy folks back in power I am glad we still have the filibuster in place.

The answer is the electoral college. Winning by a large percentage is not what is important. Winning states and picking up electoral votes is what gets you elected president. All a candidate needs to do is take a state by 1 vote to pick up all the electoral votes.

As such it is possible that a candidate wins the popular vote and loses the election. This has happened twice, most recently when Bush beat Gore. Gore won the popular vote by over 3 million votes and lost the election.

Overall the system is a pretty fair one, and most of the time the popular vote is really what decides who is elected president.

You can count that each candidate is going to get at least 40% of the popular vote. The has been the case since 1980. If Bozo the clown becomes the candidate for either party you can count that he will get at least 40% of the popular vote.

This means that it is really 20% of us that elect the president. Forget all the bullshit by the pundits on the left and right. The historical math is reall. 20% of the electorate determine election outcomes. 

If you predominantly vote for one party I am not talking to you so frankly I could care less if you keep reading this. My audience is the 20% that determine to vote Republican or Democrat.

If we drill down more, it is really the 20% in the swing states. The 20% have a great responsibility to gather all the facts and make an informed decision before you vote. Yours is a great responsibility and should not be determined solely by watching 30 second negative ads. So some digging and get the facts. There is currently a great divide between the right that has moved to the extreme right, and the left that actually is living in the center (much to the chagrin of a large part of their base).

A few years ago the right was railing about the constitution and religious freedom. Most Americans have not read our constitution and are clueless as to what is says on the subject. It actually says very little. What it does say is pretty clear.

Disgusted by the spin I was hearing, I wrote a web page on the subject back then. http://www.everydollarmatters.com/constitution_and_religion.php. In this tome I added a plethora of quotes on the subject from our founding fathers.

When we have 8.3% umemployment…

Why is the right  talking about birth control?

In 2012 why are talking about birth control period?

I suggest those of you on the right get out of your media bubble and start looking at the facts. I also suggest those of you that are truly moderates do the same. We are facing some serious problems. Problems we must address. The issues and facts if you do a little digging are quite clear. You are being led in a direction that if continued will make the economic crash of 2008 look like a walk in the park.

Instead of listening to how awful the Democrats are doing focus in on what the Republican plans are.  Look at the specifics.

Romney’s Tax plan gives nearly 60 percent of its benefit to the richest 1 percent of Americans, while preserving the loopholes that let the wealthy pay less than middle class families. Families making $40,000 or less a year will also see a slight tax increase.

Bush tax cuts for households making over $1,000,000 resulted in $141,312 per year. Romney’s plan calls for $286,880. More than double.

His plan would add an additional $600 billion to the federal deficit each year.

This information comes from a study released by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington.

I think we all have a common goal of reducing our national deficit. But we are being fed a lie by Mr. Romney and the right spin machine as to where these deficit have come from. Our inflated national deficit has come largely from 3 sources.

1) Bush-era tax cuts
2) war spending in Iraq and Afghanistan
3) The current Recession

Please review the following chart. It comes from data from the Congressional Budget Office and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Both are non-partisan organizations.

I do not care which party you lean towards. I do care about fiscal responsibility.

1) Bush cut taxes but did not cut government spending. Any fool that understands math knows this led to a deficit.
2) Post 9/11 Defense spending has more than doubled, yet taxes were lowered.
3) We currently have 8.5% unemployment. In other words, the government is not taking in tax revenues from 3.5% to 4% of the population (unemployment typically runs at 4% to 5%).

I also do not think you need to be an economist to understand these issues. Imagine you were making $3000 a month and your expenses were $3000 a month. Now imagine you had to get another job but it only pays you $2500 a month. If you do not adjust your budget to reflect your new income you would be upside down $500 a  month. You could throw it on the credit card and continue to spend more than you make. Every one of you reading this gets this concept, even those of you that live beyond your means! Well, this is exactly what the government is doing and has been doing since Clinton left office.

Take a look again at the chart above. You should now understand the nature of 6.5 trillion dollars of our  14 trillion dollar deficit comes from.

Now on to Romney.

His solution is to double the Bush tax cuts with the majority going to the top 1%, adding another $600 billion to our deficit. He also proclaimed after his win in the New Hampshire primary that he will increase and strengthen our military. Simple question. How does he plan to pay for this? Cutting taxes and increasing military spending. How is this being fiscally responsible? Sound a lot like the fiscal policies of the Bush administration to me.

Bain capital is what are referred to as “corporate raiders.” They go in and do leveraged buyouts for cash and asset rich companies and extract capital from them for their shareholders. Over 20% of these companies Bain bought ended up going through bankruptcy. Remember Kaybee toys. A successful old toy store. Bain bought them, added massive debt to their balance sheet and ended up driving them into bankruptcy. Bain walked away from that aquisition with 120 million dollars in profit, putting a 70 year old viable toy company into bankruptcy.

His tax plan does not seem much different than the business model at Bain.

Throwing Newt Under the Bus

Romney is running on the platform that he has business experience and is a job creator. Newt Gingrich has asked him to defend these business practices. Newt is being thrown under the bus by the entire Republican machine. He is being branded as a communist, anti-business, anti-capitalism.

Newt is right in asking these questions of Mitt. Over the next year you are going to hear many stories about Bain captial. How they bought companies and shut down factories and sent jobs overseas.

Asking these questions in not being anti-business or anti-capitalism.

If you want to believe in a system of free market capitalism that closes our factories and ships our jobs overseas then that is your choice.

If you want to believe in a system of free market capitalism that allows the largest companies tax advantages that allow them to pay less than their smaller competetion so that we end up with less mom and pop stores and more big chains like Walmart and Best Buy and Target and Old Navy. Stores where most of the employees are part-time, paid minimum wage, and not offered benefits like health insurance. Chains where you can buy goods made in third world countries for less than can buy the raw materials and make them yourself then that is your choice.

If you want a free market system that is allowed to operate without some form of government regulation in the face of the worst economic collapse just three years ago then that is your choice.

If you want a free market system that does not allow employees to organize and bargain for their wages and benefits collectively then that is your choice.

I do not understand your choice but it is your choice.

My choice on the other hand is a system of capitalism that is more like the capitalism people like Warren Buffet practice. Buy companies with strong balance sheets and long term outlook and grow them for the long haul.

I am for a system of capitalism where our government looks to incent businesses to create jobs in America through tax policy that favors creating jobs in America.

I am for a system of capitalism that is focussed on creating money and wealth through investment banks that leads to creating jobs and invests in our future.

I am for a system of capitalism that considers our finite resources and is more focused on the Buffet model of long term growth than about how do in the current quarter.

I am for a system of capitalism that is outlined in the Obama commission that was headed by Jeff Immelt and many of our current business leaders.

If after seeing all of these facts you are still going to vote Republican no matter the cost to you then that is your choice. Frankly, I do not feel I have a choice any longer. I am not real thrilled with the Democratic party. But when I look to the right and see what they have done and what they will do if they get back into the majority I am flat out frightened for all of us.

I agree with Ron Paul that if we keep selecting the status quo the day of reckoning gets that much closer. I agree with many of his libertarian ideas, and disagree with just as many. I agree with many Democratic ideas, and disagree with just as many. I cannot name a single Republican idea in the new Tea Party driven neocon world that I agree with. Sadly, this has not always been the case.

Republicans are going to get at least 45% of the vote no matter who they run. They run Bart Simpson and they will get the 45%. To be fair, if Democrats ran Bart they too would get 45%. 10% of us are the ones that decide elections.

  • If you are middle class and want higher taxes vote Republican
  • If you want to get screwed on Social Security vote Republican
  • If you want to get screwed on Medicare and screw your elder family members currently on medicare vote Republican
  • If you like war vote Republican
  • If you like big government vote Republican
  • If you like deficit spending, vote Republican. Republicans when in the majority of the Senate and House out deficit spend Democrats 2 to 1. (http://everydollarmatters.com/Republicans_or_Democrats_who_spends_more.php)
  • If you want to continue to allow reckless Wall Street behavior that put us in the economic mess we are trying to dig out of vote Republican.
  • If you are against birth control for everyone vote Republican
  • If you believe in oppressing womans rights vote Republican
  • If you want income inequality to continue through our unfair tax code vote Republican
  • If you like all the great job legislation the Republican produced House has produced in the two years since they took control vote Republican
  • If you think our environment does not need to be protected, and spills like the one in the gulf are no biggie. If you think climate change and our strange weather we have been experiencing is just a fluke vote Republican
  • If you are for a Supreme court that ruled that Corporations are people and that superpacs can put unlimited money into buying elections vote Republican

It is your right as an American to vote however you want.